Sex is no longer taboo, and it’s thanks to social media that the conversation around sexuality is more open than ever before
- An increasing number of influencers and TikTok users have used social media to make fun of conventional sex devoid of kink or fetishes
- Though public shaming is never acceptable, experts say the trend of mocking vanilla sex is just one example of how the conversation around sex is changing
Talking about sex openly has long been taboo, and when those conversations do occur, they’ve historically centred on what is seen as conventional, “healthy”, plain old sex.
Or what some these days are calling “vanilla sex” – and rolling their eyes at.
Recently, some on social media have started a trend of “vanilla sex shaming”, or ridiculing those who enjoy conventional sex – devoid of kink or fetishes.
Michelle Hope, a sexologist and reproductive justice activist in New York, says our outdated perceptions about sex are rooted in “Christian fundamentalism, and the idea of, ‘What is the correct moral obligation when sex is an activity we do?’”
“Historically, we’ve seen it as a means of procreation, and that’s how it’s been sold to us, especially in the realm of this purity culture, the idea that if you have sex before marriage, you’re not pure,” she explains.